Protecting His Wolfe (2 page)

Betsie hid on the ground near the
edge of a large blue sedan, praying no one could hear her. The silence after
such a deafening noise grated on Betsie’s nerves. Without thought for herself,
she rushed over to the body to see if they needed help.

“Oh, my, gosh, it’s Johnny from the
warehouse. Johnny, Johnny,
are
you okay?” She placed
her hands on his chest to see if he was still breathing, only to pull away
abruptly when she felt the wetness of his shirt.

Looking down at her hands, “Oh no.
Blood! Johnny!” But his death was as evident as the large hole in the front of
his shirt gushing blood on the pavement.

“I can’t be caught here.” Betsie
realized with the dead body beside her that the garage wasn’t a safe place.

After a long argument with her
conscience over what was right and what might happen, Betsie found her purse
with the office keys inside and went back into the office to call the police.

Chapter
Three

Quickly the police, her boss, Mr.
Anderson, and Miss Hildebrand arrived. Betsie didn’t want to face the horror of
Johnny’s body again, so she stayed inside the receptionist’s area of the
office. Mr. Anderson and Miss Hildebrand tried to talk with her when they
arrived but the police wouldn’t let anyone near her until they got their
statement. One nice officer gave her a woolen blanket to wrap around her body. She’d
never been so chilled. Huddled in a blanket in one of those uncomfortable
waiting room chairs, Betsie was shaking after the horror of what happened.

Johnny is…was…had been such a nice guy to me.
 
He made sure to always say good morning to me
and treated me with respect. Who could’ve done this?
Betsie wondered if it had anything
to do with what she overheard the other night.
 
Could Johnny have been involved
with the drugs?

With many thoughts going through her
mind, Betsie didn’t hear the police detective walk over to her.
 
He cleared his throat and put his hand on her
shoulder to get her attention.

“Yikes, you startled me!” Betsie
yelped as her cheeks burned from embarrassment.

Looking up at the detective, Betsie
noticed first how tall he was, and then she noticed his broad shoulders under
his tan jacket.
This is a guy who looked
like he could take care of himself
, she thought. Betsie couldn’t seem to
draw her eyes away from him. His dark hair was cut military short, drawing your
gaze to his deep blue eyes.
I’ve always
been a sucker for blue eyes.
His nose and jawline were chiseled as if they
had been carved from granite. But his full lips and two small laugh lines near
his mouth belied those tough features with softness. Betsie began to imagine
those lips on her mouth and her shaking got worse.

“Hello, Miss Wolfe. I’m detective
Jonah Pigg.
 
I’ve got a few questions for
you.” The detective looked down at the small form huddled in the police issue
green blanket and noticed her shaking body.
 
Crouching down to be face to face, Jonah immediately noticed how
delicate her features were and how her golden hair cascaded around her face
like a painting of Michelangelo. She had a pixie-like face with lavender eyes
that seemed to angle upwards, a small nose with a dusting of freckles, and a
heart shaped pair of lips.
I’d love to
see her eyes sparkle with laughter. I wonder how tall she is.
“You’re shaking.
 
Here use my coat.” Taking his tan jacket off
his body, Jonah pulled the blanket off Betsie than wrapped his coat around
Betsie’s shoulders before returning the blanket to her body.
 
The coat was warm with his body heat and her
shaking subsided.

“Thank you, Detective Pigg. I don’t
know what came over me. I guess the whole situation was just too much for me.
See, I knew Johnny. He worked here in the warehouse.
 
He was always nice to me.”

“Miss Wolfe, you were the person who
called 911, correct? Did you notice anything about the incident— a person, a
sound, a vehicle, perhaps?”

“I was walking through the garage on
my way to Sixth Street so I could walk home but I tripped and fell, sending my
purse flying. As I was trying to gather it up, I heard a bunch of yelling, a
loud sound- that must have been the gun shot- I’m sorry I’ve never heard a gun
before, and…” squinting her eyes trying to remember everything that happened,
“Yes! There was a car.
A black car with silver trim.
It looked like it didn’t get good gas mileage.
Maybe a sports
car.
I’m sorry that I don’t remember more.”

Jonah looked at the beautiful woman
in the blanket and his coat with admiration. “You remembered a lot. Thanks. If
you remember anything else, please call me.” With that, he handed her his
business card and started to stand. “I’m going to have Officer Johnson here
take you home.”

“Nonsense.
I’ll be fine. I don’t live that
far.” Attempting to stand, Betsie put weight on her left knee and crumbled to
the ground.

But before she hit the floor, Jonah
collected her in his arms and lifted her to his chest.
“Nonsense,
huh?
I don’t think you are fine so I’ll just have to make sure you get
home safely where someone can look at your leg.”
Shouting to
the other officers, “I’m going to take this lady home.
She isn’t doing
so well. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Jonah carried her to a waiting tan
sedan and placed her gently in the front passenger seat. Walking around the
other side of the car, Jonah climbed in, started the car and drove away. Laying
her head back against the seat, Betsie inhaled deeply the enticing smell of
Jonah. It permeated his jacket and his car, comforting her.
 
Betsie closed her eyes and fell deeply
asleep.

****

The slam of the car door woke Betsie,
who was a little disoriented. Seeing Detective Jonah Pigg coming around the
side of the car to open the door for her, Betsie smiled. “You’re such a
gentleman. Most of the guys I date don’t even open the door. How did you know
where I live?” she asked curiously.

Extending his arm
for her to hold onto, Jonah said, “Here you go, Betsie.
The guys that you date are losers if
they don’t show some common manners. Let me help you to the door. I just looked
up your address on your wallet in your purse, which I have right here along
with your apartment keys, I assume.”

Putting some weight tentatively on
her left leg, Betsie grabbed hold of Jonah’s arm and climbed out of the tan
sedan. When she stood up, she noticed that the top of her head only came to his
chin.
He really was tall, dark and dangerous
.
They walked awkwardly toward her apartment, with Jonah holding her tightly
around the waist to keep her from falling.

Taking hold of her purse, Betsie
grabbed her keys and opened her apartment door. “Thank you again for
everything.
 
Would you like to come in
for some coffee or lemonade? My grandma taught me to use my manners.
 
That is unless you are afraid that I will
bite. I am a Wolfe after all. ” She smiled up at him with mirth in her eyes,
transforming her face from beautiful to extraordinary.

“Oh I’m not afraid of your little
bite, but I do want to take a look at that leg. You couldn’t put much weight on
it a minute ago. I wouldn’t want to have a Wolfe out there with a broken leg.
The vet will want to put you down.”

The shared laughter felt good with
each of them enjoying the word games they played.
 
As Betsie sat on the couch, Jonah knelt on
the floor and lifted the hem of her dress. Gently touching her left knee,
elicited a cry of pain from her but he was able to bend and move the leg
without much discomfort.

“Looks lucky for
you that it’s only a bad sprain.
 
You’ll live. Put some
ice on this, take it easy and you’ll be fine.
I‘d better get
back to the crime scene before they miss me.
I put my cell number on the
back of that card I gave you. Feel free to give me a call if the vet comes
sniffing around you.”

With that, Jonah closed the door and
headed back to his car. To Betsie, it seemed as if all the sunshine drained out
of the world.

Chapter
Four

After a good night’s sleep, Betsie
woke feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work. Sitting around the
apartment wasn’t good for her since she kept thinking about poor Johnny. After
her morning routine, Betsie stepped outside to find tantalizing Detective Jonah
Pigg standing by his car waiting on her. “I thought you’d try to head back into
work today and I didn’t want you to walk, so here I’m at your disposal.”

“Thank you. I really can’t afford to
miss a day of work. Miss Hildebrand and Mr. Anderson frown on taking personal
time. And honestly, I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts.” Betsie smiled
and looked up into Jonah’s eyes.

After the short six-block drive, they
arrived at Anderson Trucking. Jonah pulled his car right up front to the door.
“What time are you getting off? I plan on being here to take you home too.”

“No that’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
Betsie was a strong opinionated woman who didn’t like to rely on others. It was
her nature to take care of things for herself. After all, she had learned that
she could only count on herself.
 
But
Betsie didn’t count on Jonah being as strong-willed as she was.

“I insist. No argument. I’ll pick you
up at five o’clock.”

Climbing out of the front seat in a
huff, Betsie slammed the car door.
Who
does he think he is to take over my life? I can do this on my own.

Walking into the office with a scowl
on her face, Betsie came face to face with Mr. Anderson, himself.
Oops.
 
This can’t be good.

“Hello, Miss Wolfe. I trust that
you’re okay. I’m surprised that you’re here at work today. But then again, Miss
Hildebrand’s been telling me about what a conscientious worker you are. Thank
you for calling the police last night.
 
It must have been horrible for you.” Mr. Anderson looked at her
curiously.

“It was horrible Mr. Anderson but thank
you for your concern. I’m glad to get back to work and keep my mind off the
events of last night.” She put her brightest smile on her face.

“What did the police want to know? Did
you see anything that could help them?”

Mr. Anderson seemed very interested
in what she told the police.
How strange,
unless he is worried that I might know something. I hope that he didn’t notice
me the other night when that guy was with him talking about the drugs.

Betsie answered with a little white
lie after saying a silent prayer of forgiveness. “I’m afraid I couldn’t tell
them much. It was so dark and I was so scared.
 
Well, I should head back to my desk and get started with my work. Thank
you again for your concern, Mr. Anderson.”

When Betsie arrived at her desk, Miss
Hildebrand was rifling through the papers on Betsie’s desk. When Miss
Hildebrand noticed her, she quickly walked over and indicated her surprise about
seeing her back at work.

“Miss Wolfe, how
nice to see that you made it into work today.
I was just looking at your desk to
see if you had the Templeton file since I thought you might need an extra day
off to rest. Wasn’t last night just the most awful thing?”

Handing the Templeton file from the
top of her desk to Miss Hildebrand, “Yes it was horrible but I couldn’t sit at
home. My mind won’t let me rest with those horrible sights of Johnny from last
night. I would rather be at work and doing my job than at home worrying. Well,
I should get to work, then. Thank you for worrying about me,” Betsie said with
fake sincerity.
What was going on with
her bosses today?
 
They seem awfully
worried about something. I can’t believe Miss Hildebrand was going through my
desk. I’ll put it out of my mind for now and concentrate on working.

****

Eight hours later, Betsie had gotten
a lot of her work done and kept her mind busy. She hardly noticed the time
passing. She’d decided to eat lunch at her desk and kept working to avoid any
gossip with the other secretaries. However, her leg had begun to throb around lunchtime,
so she took some medicine and rubbed her knee for a bit. The pain left as
quickly as it came.

Without the pain to bother her,
Betsie finished her work for the day and actually accomplished a lot.
 
Best of all, her mind was freed from the
horrible events of yesterday.

Grabbing her jacket and purse, Betsie
walked out the door of the office to head home. Not seeing Jonah’s car, she
decided that he must have forgotten and started home. Her leg made walking
slow, but she was glad that she didn’t have to rely on anyone.

Just as she was rounding the last
block and could see her house, Betsie heard an engine roar behind her. She turned,
looked and noticed a black sports car with silver trim heading her way.
What’s that guy doing? That looks like the
same car that was in the garage last night when Johnny got shot.